Find Your Love
by Sir Cheesy Fries
Summary: One joking, fun fisherman. One rough, sarcastic animal dealer. Only one girl. Where does her loyalty stand? Nowhere. Not yet. Chelsea finds herself in a decision harder than she ever dreamed possible. R&R, better than the summary, I promise!
1. Ahoy!

**Hi, so I decided to make another story. I'm hoping this will last a bit longer, seeing as I have a whole 3 months to writing free (Yay summer break!) And I also have a sunburn, and that totally makes me not want to go outside, so I figure I'll be lazy for a week or so after my sunburn is gone.**

**If you have any suggestions, tell me, I appreciate them since I'm not that idea-generic. Like, they don't just pop up into my head like I wish they did.**

**By the way, W= Winter, S= Spring. And this story isn't really a diary-ish one, it's just that way for the 1****st**** chapter or whatever. **

**Rated T. Chelsea/Vaughn/Denny. HM: IoH. **

**Find Your Love, **a Harvest Moon fanfic.

**She didn't want to move to Sunny Island, or get a new life, or find someone she really liked. But it happened anyway. Destiny doesn't always go the way the want it to. But you might even find something you like in it. Chelsea/Vaughn/Denny.**

Dear Diary, (Monday, W. 25)

'Do I really want to go through with this?' No, of course not. Who would want to go through this? Definitely not me. That's the only thing I'm sure of.

Screw all this shit about it being "good for me." I honestly don't care a damn about the whole role of playing a rancher. I'm a city girl, not some hick chick who loves petting cows and watering plants every single day. Besides, I have everything I want in the city. There's my friends, my parents, my job, my boyfriend, Mike.

I know Claire and Jack went out to be farmer dudes, but that doesn't mean I want to. Sometimes I hate my parents. They think they know everything about what I want to be, but now.

Telling me I should be a farmer was an automatic -100 points for them.

Dear Diary, (Sunday, S. 1)

Yeah, so I'm standing here, on a boat in a room. I've got $500 from my parents and my bag of stuff I wanted to bring- diary, clothes, things like that. I dump my bag on the ground and collapse on my bed.

The beds aren't even comfortable.

I'm trying hard not to remind myself that I'm going to suck and fail at whatever ranchers do. 'Maintain a good, positive attitude' this and 'Never bring yourself down' that.

But it's too difficult.

Okay, consider yourself in this situation. You are being sent in from the city to go make plants and milk cows and all that shizz. Now add that you caught your boyfriend of 9 months in bed with another girl.

Say that "girl" was one of your closest friends.

Oh well. Why am I mad at him for doing it? I slept with plenty of guys during the months I was dating him.

… Okay. Awkward silence. Just kidding.

But seriously, I don't understand people. Why can't I just stay in one place, have the best friends- heck, best LIFE- in the world, and be able to do nothing because everyone else thought I was totally awesome and did everything for me? That'd be the ultimate fairytale.

Well, at least for me. But things are different for me. I have to go miles away from my home town (or city… whichever one you prefer) to work on some farm at a place called… what was it called? Oh, yeah, that's right, Rosebud Island. Yep, I'm serious. Pretty freaking serious.

Okay, I'm done with this thing. I don't even know why I'm writing in this. Peace.

I slammed the front of her diary slut and fell back on to the bed. Seriously? They thought I'd have a good time at this? These days were gonna be hell. I can tell already.

I bolted upright as a screeching noise came from above the cabin bed. "Chelsea?" The intercom called, pausing for a few seconds. There was heavy breathing on the other line for a few moments, as if the speaker had been running a minute ago. "There's a phone call for you on line 12."

Yep. I'm the only one of this stupid boat. Great, right?

With a grunt, I grabbed the edges of the bed and pulled myself up to grab the black cheap-looking phone on the bedside. "Hell…o?" I muttered, hoping to be told I should come back immediately and forget about the whole thing.

But nope. Not a chance with this girl.

"Chelsea?" Angela's voice floated into my air, and I scrunched up my nose. Just the voice I wanted to hear. My little sister's.

"No, it's Elmo."

"Seriously?"

. Angela was _so _freaking dumb sometimes. Or at least she acted like it most of the time. Angela was 10 years old, the youngest of the family. Jack was the oldest, Claire the second, I'm the third. Jack is married to a girl named Karen, who hates me for a reason unknown, but I don't like her either. I mean, seriously, she's sorta pretty, with her blond bangs and brown hair and pretty green eyes, but she's sort of an alcoholic. I guess it's not as bad as some people's, but she always puts alcohol in her dishes for the Mineral Town cooking festival thing they do. The whole family always goes, and one time, I had to taste Karen's dish. Not a pretty sight there. I thought I was dead for a week.

And Claire used to own a Ranch at a farm I forgot it's name of, but one time when she spent the Summer at Jack's farm (this was when Karen was only dating Jack, not married yet and living together), she met Kai and got married to him the next Summer, and now travels with him, so I don't ever get to see her unless she comes and visits us. She says that a lot of girls like Kai, and he always flirts with them, but he doesn't really mean it. But, of course, whenever she says this, she doesn't look so sure.

Um… back to the phone call. Sorry, got a little off track there.

"Yes, totally. What do you want?" I hissed, somewhat annoyed at who had been on the other line.

I could hear Angie suck in air loudly, as if she was hurt. I rolled my eyes. What a faker.

"No…nothing. I just wanted to hear your voice before you get off and lose connection… because I'm that great of a sis…sis…sister," she said dramatically, sniffling.

"Yeah, if a "great sister" means spying on me and Mike like only every single day. So uncalled for. And don't even pretend like you don't even know what I'm talking about, cause I know you do. Now, I have to go, I don't want to talk to you, so, I'm hanging up now. Bye." I put the phone back on its receiver and lay back on the bed again to close my eyes and gather my thoughts.

If I could describe my perfect day ever, it would totally not be this. Not in a million one hundred fifty years. Maybe in a million, one hundred, and fifty one years but not right now it isn't.

Okay, let me get this straight. First I'm being sent off to work at a farm. Now I get woken up in the middle of night by flashes of lightning and stupid thunder.

What. The. Hell. This is totally not turning out to be my day.

The captain was trying to say something on the radio, but I couldn't understand what he was trying to say because the noise of the thunder drained it out. Something about a baboon. I think.

I reached for the light to turn it on, and for a second it flashed on, then suddenly went out again. Damn. Power outage.

Did I mention I hate today?

I know what you are thinking: Yeah, only about 50 times.

But seriously, I do.

Suddenly, the sailor who had called himself Emerson earlier that day came to my room. "Ma'am, we've got a problem. We need all passengers-" Pftt. I am "all the passengers". I'm the only one. "- To report to the safety boats immediately. Follow me, ma'am."

I have a name, believe it or not. Yes. It's Chelsea. Easy enough, you don't think? Two syllables, seven letters.

But I followed him anyhow.

Only I never made it.

Because suddenly, my world went black.


	2. Lost and Found

**Hi. I'm back again… Smile! Um. Yeah. I'm hyper. So, I need some motivation. Or at least I will soon. Because if I'm happier that means better, faster, and longer chapters will suddenly magically appear. Motivation is reviewing/favoriting/subscribing. So, yeah. I'm not forcing you to do it, but it gives me happiness. And everyone knows that Motivation = Happiness = Quality. Right? But yeah. Enjoy this chapter. It's better than the first I think. Except for the fact I don't really like the whole Chen part. And you guys should totally give me suggestions. I'm not good at them. I already have a few things planned though. *evil laugh* **

Where was I? What was I doing here? Why is the darkness surrounding me? I tried to open my mouth, but to no avail. I just almost drowned in salt water.

Wait. There's something touching me. Oh my god. I hope it's not a shark. Because if doesn't kill me, I'm definitely going to kill my mom.

Nope. It's skin. I can feel whosever's fingertips' scratching at my wrist and pulling me up.

_Where was I? Is this a joke?_

But I don't dare to open my mouth or eyes again as the hand pulls me out.

Almost immediately I cough and hack, trying desperately to get the water out of my system.

_Yes. Water, boat… It all makes sense now._

I can feel my body convulse but my eyes are still tightly shut together. Is this a dream? No. I don't think so at least.

I bend over and cough the rest of the water up out of my lungs. I feel sick. I just want to go to sleep. But when I cough again, everything goes black.

"Hello? H-hey! Are you here?" I opened my eyes again to see a wrinkled old man shaking me and looking at my face. "Oh! Thank goodness you are awake! I thought you were gone for good!" The cheery old man, of which who was quite the stranger to me, said, giving me a toothy grin.

There's no way I'm thanking goodness. I'm thanking you, old man.

"W…where am I?" I asked him, choking a little bit on remaining water. Thought I'd gotten all that out of my system. Damn.

He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Do you not remember anything? It's Sunny Island! Looks like your boat went down in the storm. Everyone survived, though. They must of all made it to the lifeboats."

Lifeboats, my ass. I was "everyone". Well, except the crew.

Wait… did he say Sunny Island? But… "Isn't this Rosebud Island?"

"No, I'm sorry. Are you talking about the island about 50 miles from here? Well, this isn't it. This island's just about deserted. Sorry, lady. Why are you looking for Rosebud island?"

Are you kidding me? "Never mind. It's nothing. My name's Chelsea."

"Mine's Taro."

We shook hands awkwardly.

"Here, come meet my family," Taro offered enthusiastically. "Follow me."

So I did… what other choices did I have? I mean, seriously? I was basically ship wrecked.

I followed him up the beach until we saw a pretty lady with pink hair. Taro called her name, Felicia, and she turned to look at us. I was right; she was really pretty. Her pink hair was braided in the back and she was wearing a dress.

"Oh, hello." She greeted me, smiling at me. "I'm Felicia. Who are you?"

Taro told her my name before looking around, "Now where'd the kids run off to?" He asked.

As if on cue, two teenagers came up from ahead of us. They both had pink hair, so I was guessing they were Felicia's children. One was a boy and one was a girl, and the boy had glasses.

They both looked really bored, by facial expressions, at least.

"Chelsea, this is my son, Elliot, and my daughter Natalie. This is Chelsea," Felicia told them, facing towards them again. I nodded to them, and they nodded back. I felt extremely awkward as the two of them stared at me, Elliot's mouth twitching, half open as his eyes raked over my body. This isn't weird at all.

"Well!" Taro interrupted the silence, glaring at his grandson. "Felicia, what's the situation?" Felicia opened her mouth to answer, but Natalie beat her to it.

"There's a couple houses up ahead, they don't look very good though."

Taro nodded. "Okay, show us them, then," he said matter-of-fact, his voice cracking with slight annoyance. Natalie backed away and turned to go straight and we followed her until I could see two houses in the distance.

Natalie had been right. There were in shambles. The house was made of wood, and where the door should have been was an empty opening to a house covered by nailed boards. 

"Reminds me of a scary movie," I said, then slightly giggled, but stopped shortly as I saw they didn't laugh either.

Felicia stared at the house nervously. "Well, it's not THAT bad. I mean, it could be worse. All it needs is a paint job and some fix-ups. That's all."

I looked sideways at Natalie. The girl's facial expression was of boredom and disbelief, as if she thought that the house too needed much more fixings than just that, which I don't not agree, because I totally agree, since the house looked like it had been made only just about 150 years ago.

I'm not very good at measuring. Or whatever it is to tell how old things are.

Elliot was almost as dumbstruck as his sister. But I don't care about him, so, yeah.

Hey, I'm self conscious. I don't like it when people stare at me. I feel like I have something on my face or something.

My train of thought was broken in half by Natalie's disappointed voice. She glanced at me with desperation not so hidden in her eyes, then flashed them back towards her mother and grandfather. "But… it's sort of ugly. And it doesn't seem too stable."

"Oh, it'll hold out," Taro assured her, patting her on the shoulders. I could tell I was going to like Natalie. Her brother, maybe not so much. But Natalie still didn't look so sure.

"Well, um, I guess I'll show you where you are going to stay then, Chelsea," he said to me, telling his family he'll be back in about 10 minutes. He led me around a corner ahead of their house a bit and a whole field of dirt came into view. I was about to protest when Taro pointed to a house and nodded. "That's your house."

"Um, okay."

"Do you know anything about being a rancher?"

I stared at him in shock. So I still have to work at a farm, huh? Still? I can't believe it.

Though, honestly, I should have seen it coming. I mean, the plot of empty land? It all makes sense now. Great. Just excellent.

"Nothing. But I guess you can teach me… right?"

Oh my god. I'm going to kill myself.

Not really, but you get the point.

"Of course! You know, I was a rancher too once. I loved those days… I would plant…" Taro rambled on, so I chose to tune him out. What am I going to do now? Maybe I should just reject? No. Hopefully he was a good one, so at least I can do some things good. Besides, I need the money, right?

I slipped my hand in my pocket and felt the pouch of 500 gold in my pocket. I'd probably just save it. I don't know what else to spend it on, seeing as I'd been shipwrecked on a different island 50 miles away from my actual destination and that Taro's family and I were the only ones of "Sunny Island".

"Hello? You there? Chelsea!" I opened my eyes and my gaze instantly focusd on Taro's hand waving in front of my face. "Oh, thank goddess. I thought you were asleep on me!" He laughed, smiling up at me.

"Um sure," I said unsurely.

"So, what do you need to know about being a farmer?" He asked, all cheery like.

"Um… how about everything?" It was sad, but true. More sad. But hey, when my parents sent me off to work at whatever :Island, they _didn't _tell me anything about it. They just gave me some money and said "Here, go live a life in the country" and walked away.

No. Just kidding. But it went sort of like that. Hardy har har.

So freaking funny.

"Well, then. I guess I'm stuck teaching you then. See the empty plot there? You can till the land with a hoe and plant seeds in them to make it grow, then sell it for money, but you have to water them every day. I don't know how you are going to get seeds right now though, so you'll have to wait on it. I'm sure there's some stuff you can get around the island to sell. Look! There's even a shipping bin. I'll have to tell Felicia. Put those items you want to sell in that bin and the buyer will pay you. That's about it, except, you can chop the branches with axes and the stones with a hammer."

I gave him a confused look. But I didn't have any of these things.

"Um…" I began uncertainly.

"You have the hoe and the hammer and the axe, right?"

Awkward.

"No. sorry."

"That's fine. Hopefully we can get some."

I shrugged. I felt completely worthless. I don't know what came over me. Suddenly I was mad, then now… this.

Taro turned to go, but I reached out to grab his toothpick arm. "Wait, what are those plots over there used for?" I asked him, having let go of his arm and pointed to the two empty areas of land on the other side of the farm.

"Oh… I don't know yet. None of us know how to build anything, unless you do." I shook my head furiously. Not at all. "Well, we will have to work that out later then. I'm going to go help Felicia and the kids fix up our house. Just stop by if you need any help."

Without another word, he left.

As soon as he came out of eyesight, I laid down on the grass, sighing. I couldn't believe it. Well, actually, I sort of could. But right when I thought I had a chance not to become what I was forced to be, there it goes, right back in my face, and when I asked Taro why I had to, he said that it would bring in money for the "town" – he called it a town, seriously – to grow, villagers or buildings. No offense to Taro, but I doubted it would grow.

Well, I thought to myself gloomily. At least I don't have to start just yet.

The sun set heavily and I could feel my eyelids trying desperately to shut on me. It was late. I better get to bed.

I reached for my pocket instinctively.

That is, if the house even has one. And if it does, then hopefully it's comfortable.

I reached for my pocket instinctively. Oh crap. I was supposed to call my mom once I got to here. But there was no phone. There were no bags. Holy shit.

The bags are gone. The bags with everything – my phone, clothes, all that junk.

The only thing in my pockets was the pouch of coins.

Oh.

I locked eyes on the little house as I walked towards it. It was small, and it probably didn't have much other than a bed and TV, somewhat like the boat cabin I had stayed in. Well, except the boat cabin didn't have a TV. Not that I'm sure this house will have one. It is a small island off to the middle of nowhere anyhow, and probably not even on the maps. How sad.

I turned the door knob to the right and it opened. It was a dainty little room, with a television, table, and a small bed. I immediately went to bed, falling asleep in less than 3 minutes of my head on the pillow.

"Chelsea!"

I sat up groggily and wiped the sleep from my eyes, glancing at the door. Who's here at this time? It's only 6 am, according to the clock on my bedside table. I yawned and stretched my arms as I slung my legs over the side of the bed and glanced around.

Where was I?

Oh, yeah. A place called Sunny Island.

"Hold your horses," I called to Taro outside, looking around for my bags before realizing once again that I had lost them.

Taro came in anyway, which, personally, I thought was sort of rude and somehow perverted. What if someone was undressing? I mean, seriously. I never would have expected that from an old man.

"There's some new people on the island. Everyone is going down to the beach to meet them. Want to come?"

"Um no, I'll catch up in a few."

Then I remembered something. "Taro, did you see any bags wash up onshore? Cause I lost mine and I really need some things in them."

He stole a look at me before replying. "Nope… sorry. No bags. Only you, of course, if you want to count yourself as a bag. I'm sorry."

I sighed. "It's fine."

After that he left, I readjusted my red bandana to make my hair look not so messy. I untied that back and played with my golden brown locks a little bit and brushed them through my fingers before tying the handkerchief back on. I glanced at myself in a mirror briefly before stepping out the door.

Several moments later I arrived at the beach. Everybody else was there already, including a older Chinese guy and his son. "Finally," I heard Taro mutter, and I rolled my eyes at him.

The older guy took my image in. "You must be Chelsea," he stated the obvious, holding out his hand. I shook it awkwardly, pulling it back after a second or two. "We're merchants. I'm Chen, and this is my apprentice, Charlie, and also my son."

"Hi!" The boy named Charlie peeped up, looking up at me with wide eyes.

"Hello," I greeted him politely in a childish voice.

"We just sold the old shop way back in the city, but Dad wants to work on this island now," he told me. I glanced up at Taro.

I was still looking at Taro when Felicia's voice rang in my ears. "Yes. Chen even arranged that cargo boats come by to our island. That means we can sell crops and other things."

"Yes, it is wonderful. I also can get tons of seeds so you can work on farming and growing crops."

"That's great," I mumbled. Okay, never mind about the "glad" part yesterday. This just totally screwed it up.

"It is, isn't it?" Chen asked me, but didn't wait for an answer to say, "You'll need animals, too, I expect. I'll try to see what I can work out with the animal dealers."

"Oh okay. Thanks so much."

Chen muttered no problem, rummaging through his bag of stuff. "Here, let me take you to your house," Taro offered.

"Okay."

Chen and Charlie followed Taro and Felicia, and Elliot followed father and son, and me and Natalie were in back.

"Hi," she greeted.

"Hello," I said back.

"Do you like my brother?"

I shot her a horrified look. At this, she cracked up, doubling over. I stopped for her as I waited for the pink haired girl to say 'Just kidding'.

Natalie got up from the floor, wiping the dirt off her jeans.

She never said the two words, so I said, "No, he's gross and creepy."

"Yeah, I know," she agreed wholeheartedly, laughing slightly.

"So when did you guys get here?"

"Oh, there was another boat that went down in the storm yesterday. It was the De Vrije, or something fancy like that. We were actually all going to visit my aunt in Waffle Town."

I was chugging a bottle of water Taro had given me the other day while she said this. Hearing the stupid name, I spit my water out on the grass ground. "Are you freaking serious? That is like such a stupid name for a town! What, is there beach called Vanilla Beach or something? Or maybe Pancake Beach?"

"No, but their inn is named Sundae Inn. It's really weird. Like everything is named after food. But I wouldn't expect anything else from the mayor. He seriously needs some exercise!"

I laughed. I could tell we would be friends in no time.

"So why did you come here?" Natalie asked me, eyes averted to look at my face.

"Oh, well, uhm…" Great. I have to tell her my stupid story. I even considered lying to her, but I'm sure I'd let it slip eventually. "Well, my parents back in the city sent me off to Rosebud Island – Taro says it's about 50 miles from here – to become a farmer like my older sister and brother, and then the storm came along and killed my boat," I told her, the words pouring out of my mouth. "I didn't pay attention to the name," I added with a laugh.

"Well, that sucks you weren't on a lifeboat. We were. I seriously wanted to push Elliot out though. Weakest dies first, right?" Natalie snickered.

I glanced around, pausing in talk. Everybody else was gone. Whoops.

"Yeah. Look, I gotta go. I'm going to try to make a bit more money If I have more time, I'll stop by your house or something. Bye!"

Natalie called bye back, waving to me.

I ran back to the farm, eager to get some more sleep.

**So… how'd you like it? De Vrije actually means 'The Free' in Dutch. And I know some parts of the story totally don't make sense. Parts I can't think of right now. But you'll get it soon, hopefully.**

**Yeah, I'm planning on skipping ahead a ton of days so I can just cut to the point and stuff. So, yeah. **

**Review, subscribe, & favorite. **

**Criticism welcome. Compliments loved. Suggestions helpful.**


	3. Wake Up Call

_Disclaimer: I do not make Harvest Moon. Natsume does. Let's leave the credit to them, k? _

_First of all, I'd like to say thanks to the people who subscribed to this or favorited it. That's basically it. Haha… anyway, enjoy (: and also, if you have any requests, just message me or something- I'll do a oneshot of whatever pair you like. _

_I liked this chapter by the way (: I don't know why. But I think this story has a chance of actually surviving until the end. Maybe. I'm not that good at those kind of stuff. I just like to end things once I get bored of them. But… let's hope not._

_Rated T for minor language. _

**Dear Diary, (Spring 13, 10:03 Year 1)**

I am so sorry I haven't written in you lately. I've just been really busy. Worst of all, I think I'm sort of getting the hang of the whole farming thing. It's not _that_ bad- huge emphasis on 'that', however. People had started to move in: not that much, though, but two people named Julia and Mirabelle came to Sunny Island just this morning, and a Fisherman named Denny came on the 11th. He's kind of cute. Kind of. Just a little.

Julia's around my age and a ditsy blond. Her and her mom work at an animal shop here in the main part of the island. At first I thought she was kind of stupid, but I guess she's okay. You just have to get used to her.

Also I ordered the chicken coop with the money I made from the food and going around and grabbing things I saw along the road that could make me some money. Want to know a secret? Most of it was wild grasses. Some of it was actual good food, like turnips and that shizz.

Well, I guess it's not that much of a secret. Every one in Taro's family knows, anyway, since they are the one who count that, and they're like one-third of the people here.

With all the extra time I have right now, I've been touring the whole island. There's another part of it to the east of the main town. It has a few run down houses, and so does the beach I had first arrived on. It's actually pretty neat. Ugh, I don't know what's coming over me. I think I'm just sick. It'll all be over soon, then. It's just a dream… right? But I've seen the whole island and there's a few broken down bridges. I wonder where it leads to.

I'm tired, so I'm going to head in. Besides, it's getting pretty late. Time flies fast here. I don't get it.

PS. You stink :P

TTYL, Chelse

**The Next Morning**

I woke up at about 5 until 6 AM the next morning after my last diary entry. Someone was pounding at my door. I sighed, jumping when another hard hit came, shaking the in-poor-condition house.

"Holy butts. I'm coming, okay?" I yelled at the door in my loudest voice, trying desperately to keep a calm façade.

I had learned not to say 'asses' when I said that. The day Eliza came I learned that, because I had screamed it at the door and when I eventually opened it, she looked at me with one of those 'you-should-be-ashamed-of-yourself' looks my parents always gave me when I had played pranks on my siblings.

"Just have to find my clothes…" I muttered to myself as the knocking eased, searching the room. I finally found the box with the clothes that I ordered and got yesterday with some extra money left over that I saved apart from the chicken coop. There was two piles of money: the save-the-farm money, and then, the way bigger account, use-this-on-yourself-you-earned-it money.

Yes, I agree. I'm pretty awesome for that.

I picked out a cami with white and black stripes and dark jeans that we're faded in the the front down my legs. The straps of the striped camisole were crossed in the back, which is what I like about them. Finding a brush in the box, I absentmindedly grabbed it and ran the bristles of it through my hair a few times. I hummed, thinking about who it could be.

It didn't sound like Taro, because Taro yelled, and for all I knew at the moment, this person didn't. Whoever it was just pounded. It doesn't sound like a girl to me. Well, actually, if it was, must be a very angry girl. So that takes _most_ girls off the list. You should emphasize on 'most'. That's what I did. But maybe-

Another bout of fists against the wood door cut off my train of thoughts. Might as well give up, I sighed in my head, opening the door.

What do you know, I was right. It was a guy.

He had a hot shade of silver for his hair going on and violet eyes. Violet eyes? Seriously? I didn't even know those existed.

Then again, my high school grades weren't _that_ good.

When I glanced down at his outfit, I had to fight the urge to laugh.

"I'm-" the man with the silver hair began. His voice was rough and edged with boredom.

"What's with the cowboy outfit?" I asked, laughing a little.

By the look he gave me, I could tell he wasn't one that didn't care whether he was interrupted or not.

A jaw twitch later his hard stare remained on me. "As I was saying," he said through clenched teeth- clenched so much I could hear them chattering, "before I was so _rudely _interrupted, I'm Vaughn."

"Oh," I said, smiling up at him. "Wow, good name for a hottie." My eyes instantly dashed to his chest.

I could tell he wasn't going to move. Vaughn's body language screamed it all over. He stood there limply like a marionette doll.

How do I even know these words?

I tapped my fingers against my thighs. "Well?" I spat as lightly as possible. It was quite hard for me. "Are you going to, like, leave me be now, or stand there googling me? I don't know about you, but I have some work to do. Evil plots don't construct themselves, and apparently you don't either, seeing as you can't stand straight. Use your muscles once in a while." He straightened up, but I could see no tint of red on his face. Sad. "And yes, that includes the ones in your brain."

"Oh, I'm sorry," he hissed back, just as coldly, "but I just can't stop staring at you because you're so damn hot."

Raising my eyebrows, I glanced up at the cowboy-clad boy. He looked about in his early 20s or so. "Really? I am?" I asked, trying to stick to the innocent girl thing I had going on. Sort of.

"No."

"Oh, whatever! I so know I am. I don't need you to tell me I'm not, cause you like don't matter, okay?"

Vaughn face turned into that stupid smirk again. I hate when guys do that.

"Okay, seriously, Van, Vince, whatever your name is, can you get out of my house? You're starting to stink up the air. What do you do anyway, herd cows? Did the rodeo just come into town?"

I could sense his harsh glare bore into me. "For your information," he retorted, an edge to his voice as sharp as the blade of a butcher knife, "I work as an animal dealer. Ever heard of it? I don't think you have, seeing as your shirt is on backward."

"…"

As soon as I looked down, I heard the door slam shut in from of me. Um, embarrassing much?

Yeah, I think so. I pulled the shirt over my head again and put it on the right way, this time double checking in a mirror.

I walked back to a small fridge and grabbed a bottle of water before heading outside again after a small knock.

This time Gannon was waiting for me. Oh yeah, Gannon is the carpenter guy around here. He is huge. I mean, like, HUGE. All capitals. His muscles bulge. Not that I look at them. He's like 50. But he also has a little girl named Eliza, who has short blond curls and a red bow on the top of her head. She's cute, I guess. Kids just aren't my thing, you know?

I have about (preferably) 50 years to go or so. Save about 5 or 10 years from now until that happens. Maybe even 20.

Haha…

I turned my back to the carpenter and shut the door behind me.

"Good morning, Chelsea," he grunted after I had wheeled around to face him. Get on with it, man. I already know it's about the chicken coop.

"The coop's ready. Just wanted to come by and tell you. Go check it out," he grumbled, "See you," and left, probably going to do whatever whenever. He's sort of weird that way. Did I forget to mention that?

Once Gannon had left, the old man I had become quite familiar with swung by. He had a fuzzy yellow thing in his hands. I squinted, but I still couldn't make it out until he got closer.

Oh no, I thought. A chick. Life couldn't get any worse than it was.

'Oh deal,' a voice in my mind muttered. 'You'll have to get used to it some way or another.'

'But I don't want to,' another wrestled the first. Yes, I like having mind wars. They're very fun.

"Hey, Chelsea! I heard from Gannon you had him build a chicken coop. Well, congratulations!"

"Thanks. News really flies around in this town, huh?" I asked him.

"Only with the best," he laughed, winking at me.

"What's with the chick?" I urged, seeing as he probably wasn't going to tell me himself.

Sometimes guys are so stupid. Even the old ones.

"Oh!" the little old man said, his eyes brightening. "Sorry, just got carried away. I just wanted to bring you a little welcoming gift, since there's no reason to have a chicken barn if you don't have a chicken! But I know you would have gotten one eventually, of course."

_Chicken barn? I think henhouse or chicken coop is okay with me, but thanks for the effort, Taro. _

"Oh… thanks a lot," I said with a smile, wishing sarcasm to come my way.

Taro beamed up at me. He was about 2 or 3 inches shorter than me. I was tall for my age. "Do you want to name it?"

_Why would I not want to?_

"Sure. How about…" I looked down at the little yellow fuzz in the man's hands. Uncertain, I reached out and stroked the top of his head. The chick clucked lightly. She craned out her neck and tried to grab my ring. My cousin Holly had given it to me a day before her major car accident. She had been driving to our house for dinner when a man crossed into the opposite lane and hit her car head-on. Later we found out that the man was drunk.

No doubt my family was a mix of anger, shattery, and grief in the period of time after her death. Her real name was actually Holland, but every called her Holly except her mother, who was my father's sister. The girl's full name was Holland "Holly" Alexis Roux.

I missed her a lot. She was one of my best friends, but an older one. She was only one year older than me, but was in most of my classes because she didn't come to school for kindergarten on her father's commands and had to repeat it so she was always the oldest in my grade unless another person got held back 2 times.

Suddenly a thought floated into my mind. "I'll name her Holly," I told Taro, who nodded. He set her into my hands, and she clucked. I could feel the warmth of her feathers on my hands.

Taro smiled. "Okay, all you have to do is feed her every day and love her. That's it. Simple as pie. You'll have to get some chicken food from Mirabelle. I better leave now. See you later!"

He turned back and headed down my road. Before he disappeared out of my sight, Taro turned and waved, a toothy grin plastered on his face.

I walked over to my new henhouse and set the chicken inside after petting it for a bit. 

"I'll get you food in a little while, I promise, Holly," I said, kissing her soft little head before I set her down on the floor.

Walking back, I threw my bottle in the bag and slung it over my shoulder again. I needed as much money as possible.

Might as well as see Natalie while I'm here.

I decided to wait on that and get some food for Holly because I knew she was probably out some where. As far as I could tell, she didn't like anyone at the moment. She always said the guys here suck every time I asked her about it.

I opened the door to Mirabelle's shop and stopped dead. **(A/N: I really wanted to stop it here but I have other things to do in this chapter, according to my planner :P)**

Vaughn.

Wow. This island loves me, doesn't it?

Thankfully he hadn't noticed me. His black Stetson was tipped over his face, and he leaned on the wall in the back. I could tell his eyes were closed as I glanced at him, seeing no whites of his eyes.

"Um… Mirabelle?" I asked, trying my best to ignore how Vaughn opened his eyes and sent a scowl in my direction.

"Yes sweetie? Can I help you with anything?" she said, smiling at me. It was one of those fake, "of course we have time" smiles. I bet she gave all her customers those kind of smiles.

I glanced nervously in the direction of the devil, and when I caught him staring, returned the scowl back to him before directing my eyes back to the overweight woman behind the register. "I'd like 10 chicken feed please," I said, looking at the catalog on the counter that was taped onto the surface.

Mirabelle nodded, calculating mentally how much that'd be. "That would be 100G," she told me, not glancing up. I poured the coins out into her open hand.

Just then Julia walked in. "Hey Chelsea!" she greeted. "What are you getting?"

"Food for my new chicken," I answered earnestly.

She looked a little bit bored after that. "Cool."

She glanced at Vaughn, who had gone back to closing his eyes again. "Vaughn! Sleeping on the job _again!_" She teased him, laughing. "Have you met Chelsea?"

"Unfortunately," Vaughn muttered, tipping his hat over to cover his eyes even more.

"Yeah, well, unfortunately to you to, Mister Cowboy," I snapped, "But I guess I owe you somehow. I mean, you did help create a new evil plan, of course!"

Julia glanced between us, obviously trying to see the situation but failing. Mirabelle had gone to the backroom since she had run out of food on stock.

"Good to know, I'm also guessing you lost your virginity at about age 15?" he smirked.

"For your information, I have not lost-"

To say I blushed a deep shade of red is simply an understatement. Vaughn's cheeks tinted pink, and he looked away suddenly when Julia's mother walked in again. "We're all out of feed. Sorry, Chelsea. Just put your chickens outside and that will do. We get another stock tomorrow, so you should come back then." She winked at me, and suddenly I had the feeling she heard us. 'Or maybe's she is just lying,' I thought hopefully, crossing my fingers behind my back.

"It's okay," I said, trying to calm myself. "See you, Julia, Mirabelle, _Vaughn_," I called, spitting out Vaughn's name.

I went back outside. Natalie was walking past when I burst out the door. "Hey!" she cried as I ran into her. "Oh, ha, sorry…" I stammered, moving around her and keeping up walking.

"Why are you blushing?" Her voice called from behind me.

I let my hands raise and feel my cheeks. They felt hot. I sighed. "Nothing," I said quickly, trying to defend myself.

"Um… okay, then," Natalie muttered, then stared over my shoulder.

I widened my eyes at her for that dramatic effect, turning around and coming face-to-face with Denny.

"Hey guys," said Denny. He sent a wink Natalie's way.

I glanced back at her. The girl was blushing furiously, looking down to try to cover her flushed cheeks.

"Hey to yourself," I greeted him, seeing as Natalie wasn't going to. "What are you doing here?"

Shrugging, Denny glanced around, at Natalie, at Gannon's home, and then back at me. "Nothing, I guess. Thought I'd come up to say hi. You want to fish sometime?"

"Sure, I would, but I don't have anything to fish with. I lack the whole 'catching-fish-with-your-hands' talent, you know?"

He laughed, and for the first time I noticed a small black bird on his shoulder. It peered at me with it's big eyes.

After he recovered from his laughing, he was digging through his sack. "I have an extra one if you'd like. Come on, let's go now. I could teach you."

We began to walk towards the beach and I forgot all about Nat. That is, until Denny turned back and called "You coming, Natalie?"

I noticed she was glaring at me and swallowed hard. Great. I don't need another person mad at me.

"No, you two go do whatever. I have work to do." She sneered at me once he turned back, and I gave her my best hurt look, but she was already gone.

Denny had waited for me at the end of the road, two fishing rods in his hand. He held one of them out to me. "You can keep it," he said, a smile playing on his lips.

I took it and turned it over in my hand. The wood on the handle was long and smooth. We walked over to the dock and he set his own pole down. "Hold the handle with your right hand if you are right handed," Denny instructed, "Put another on the thing that rolls the line up."

It was too heavy. I did as he asked, but the tip of the rod tipped over threateningly close to the surface of water.

He watched me. I suddenly felt uncomfortable. "Here," the boy said cheerfully. He came up behind me, and I froze. "Let me help you."

He put one hand on my right on the handle and the other on the reel. Denny let loose some wire. Within ten minutes I had my first catch. It was only a small fish, but I screamed when it flung up at me and hugged Denny when he got it off the hook. 

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" I yelled, my arms wrapped around his neck. His body tensed, and he patted my back uncomfortably. As soon as I pulled back, we stared at each other awkwardly.

"I better get going…" he muttered, and went back to his house. I could have sworn I saw him smile.

I liked today. Today was a good day.

Now to wait for tomorrow.


End file.
